VZCZCXYZ0024
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHGE #0086/01 0502000
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O R 191959Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0213
INFO RUEHGE/AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN

UNCLAS GEORGETOWN 000086 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KWMN KPAO PHUM AID CDC GY
SUBJECT: Guyana: S/GWI Project Proposal 
 
REF: 10 STATE 12531 
 
¶1. (U) Per reftel, local NGO Help & Shelter's program proposal is 
provided below: 
 
 
 
¶2. Project Title:  Support in Combating Gender-Based Violence (GBV) 
with proposed 
 
project duration of 18 months.  Amount requested is USD99,970 (see 
paragraph 7). 
 
 
 
¶3. Help & Shelter Background: 
 
 
 
Help & Shelter was established in November 1994. It is governed by 
its members through general meetings, including the annual general 
meeting at which directors are elected to direct and oversee the 
management of the organization. The board meets at least monthly 
and is assisted by a coordinator, who is responsible for the 
day-to-day operations. 
 
 
 
The services provided include public education, advocacy and 
networking with like-minded individuals and groups; provision of 
face-to-face, court support and hotline counseling; referrals of 
clients to other agencies for appropriate support and; the 
maintenance of a shelter for abused women and their children. 
 
 
 
From November 1995, when Help & Shelter launched its counselling 
services, to December 2009, a total of 8,607 persons have received 
counselling and other support services, 75 percent between the ages 
of 14 and 40 and 86 percent of them female. 40 percent of all 
adults seen had experienced some form of physical spousal abuse and 
18 percent non physical spousal abuse. 16 percent of cases were 
also alcohol and/or drug related. Out of a total of 1,055 child 
clients counselled during this period, 54 percent had been raped or 
sexually abused and 24 percent physically abused. Of all cases 
seen, 48 percent were from urban areas and 51 percent from rural 
communities. 
 
 
 
¶4. Project Management: 
 
 
 
The project will be implemented at the Crisis Center in Georgetown 
by the project coordinator, who has over nine years experience 
working in the field of social work.   The Project Coordinator is 
responsible for managing the day to day activities at Center.  The 
coordination will be assisted by six counselors who have over 5 
years' counseling experience; a monitoring and evaluation officer 
and an accountant who are qualified and experienced in their 
respective fields. 
 
 
 
Help & Shelter has considerable experience in implementing similar 
and other donor-funded projects.  These include reducing 
gender-based violence within selected communities pilot project 
under the United Nations Population Fund for 6 months from October 
2007; Canada Fund project to increase awareness of domestic 
violence and child abuse with health workers for 1 year from March 
2007 and; United States Agency for International Development funded 
training and advocacy on HIV/AIDS and Domestic Violence Project 
from October 2007 to September 2008. 
 
 
 
¶5. Help & Shelter's Problem Statement: 
 
 
 
"The problem to be addressed is the continuing prevalence of 
gender-based (GBV) violence in Guyana, which results in thousands 
of women and girls being deprived of the right to live a life free 
of violence and of the opportunity to recognize their potential, 
and the need to provide support services for survivors/victims of 
GBV. 
 
Although the Domestic Violence Act was passed in 1996 and a 
National Policy on Domestic Violence adopted in 2008, domestic 
violence continues to be the leading cause of injury to women. 
Domestic violence is mostly perpetrated by male partners or spouses 
towards women and is still all too often regarded as a cultural 
norm. A large number of children are also directly and indirectly 
exposed to and affected by domestic violence in the home. This 
leads to the perpetuation of a cycle of abuse where children 
exposed to violence in the home are at far greater risk to 
themselves becoming perpetrators of abuse or victims of abuse as 
adults. 
 
Frequently, Guyanese media report cases of death and violence 
inflicted upon women and girls. 
 
 
 
Inadequate data makes it difficult to get an accurate picture of 
the extent of gender-based violence and its impact in Guyana. A 
study conducted by the NGO Red Thread in 2000 found that one out of 
every three women experienced some type of physical abuse with 21 
percent of women in current relationships and 42 percent in 
previous relationships experiencing physical abuse by husbands or 
partners. 
 
 
 
A 2005 Guyana Human Rights Association study on sexual violence in 
the criminal justice system in Guyana found that only one percent 
of rapes reported to the police resulted in convictions.  This 
study also found that in 2007 92 percent of sexual assault victims 
were female, of whom 69 percent were girls aged 16 and younger. 
This trend continues as the country awaits the passage of new 
sexual offences legislation. 
 
 
 
Child abuse is also widespread in Guyana. A UNICEF/Ministry of 
Labor, Human Services and Social Security/Red Thread report on a 
study conducted in 2004/2005 among 4,000 children aged 3-17 yrs in 
all 10 administrative Regions of Guyana found that 87 percent  of 
children interviewed had received some sort of physical punishment 
in the home, 41 percent had experienced intimidation and 14 percent 
reported being denigrated. Additionally, 28 percent of in-school 
youth and 48 percent of out-of-school youth were assessed as being 
inadequately supervised at home. In schools, 37 percent of children 
reported being verbally abused, 18 percent threatened  and 32 
percent actually hurt by peers. Sexual abuse is also prevalent and 
goes mostly unreported due to problems of inadequate legislation, 
poor services and a reluctance to report to authorities. It is 
estimated that in Guyana 8-10 percent of girls and 2-5percent of 
boys are sexually abused." 
 
 
 
¶6. Proposed Program: 
 
 
 
This eighteen-month project is designed to support the work of Help 
& Shelter to provide community based support to combat gender based 
violence using the following initiatives: 
 
 
 
¶1.      Face-to-face and hotline counselling of victims/survivors 
of domestic and sexual violence so that they are able to understand 
the nature and dynamics of domestic and sexual violence, develop 
necessary coping skills, build self confidence and self esteem and 
access support services so as to enable them to live lives free 
from violence and the threat of violence.   Family members, 
including children affected by and witnessing domestic violence, 
will benefit directly and indirectly  from counselling as the 
violence is reduced, resolved or ended in the victim/survivor's 
life. Counselling for family members will also help to foster 
positive changes in their own lives while at the same time 
encouraging support and assistance to those relatives experiencing 
domestic violence. 
 
 
 
¶2.      Court support services/counselling for survivors of child 
abuse and domestic and sexual violence and their families.   This 
will  help to reduce the psychological trauma associated with 
sexual violence, child sexual abuse and domestic abuse as well as 
take the victims/survivors through the court process as they seek 
legal redress for the violence to which they have been subjected. 
 
¶3.      Victims/survivors of domestic violence, sexual abuse and 
child abuse will benefit from appropriate referral services to 
agencies for legal help, police and court assistance, and welfare 
and other social support. 
 
 
 
¶4.      Shelter counselling for abused women who access the 
agency's shelter for themselves and their dependent children as 
they seek to rebuild their lives and those of their children. 
 
 
 
¶5.      Public awareness through broadcast of radio and TV public 
service announcements to inform Guyanese of the existence of Help & 
Shelter and the services provided by the organization. 
 
 
 
¶7. Proposed Project Budget (USD99,970): 
 
 
 
-   Project personnel contract fees - USD68,310 
 
-   Stipends - USD7,650 
 
-   Reproduction of leaflets and posters - USD900 
 
-   Broadcast of public service announcements - USD9,000 
 
-   Stationery - USD1,530 
 
-   Court support counseling travel - USD3,420 
 
-   Admin Expenses - USD9,160 
 
-   TOTAL $99,970 
 
 
 
¶8. Embassy Georgetown's point of contact is Ken Reiman, 
Political/Economic Section Chief, telephone (592) 225-4900, ext. 
4214, IVG 747-4214, fax (592) 227-0240, email address 
reimanko@state.gov. 
WILLIAMS